How to solve Note 5 battery life issues

[AC Question]

I have had my note 5 for almost a year and the battery life has dropped a lot. I am now aware that using fast charge drains the battery life. I wish I knew that when I got it bc I have been using fast charge setting to charge only. I have stopped using fast charge. How else do I improve battery performance? I really wish the battery was not built in. Once the battery perfomance drops how long until the phone goes out completely?

 

[technifyy]

I suggest you to uninstall apps that consume more power and use the power saving mode. There's also this app called "Greenify" which can help you to maximize the battery saving.

 

[GRIMWALD]

Mine is about 9 months old and I only use between 18% and 25% of the battery charge per day. Who informed you that fast charging was a determent to battery life?

GRIM

 

[Nottechsavvyatall]

Thanx @ technifyy & Grimwald. I will see if there are apps I can ditch but will probably try force stop. I have also seen suggestions to change bright display. I just am irritated bc as much as this phone cost me (unlocked) I can't get full enjoyment bc of a feature on the phone. Battery saving mode is really annoying. Grimwald in answer to your question a google search a few weeks ago. Sorry can't remember the site. What is the advantage of built in battery? It seems like planned obsolescence to me. I guess stopping updates after a few years wasn't good enough. Or does it have to do w water proofing although the note5 isn't water proof.... Sorry musing... Thanx for the replies!

 

[GRIMWALD]

Try disabling most of your notification. From settings, go to notifications and turn off everything that you don't feel you need. Things like calculator, why would you need a notification from your calculator?
Then in the upper right corner, open the advanced menu (MM operating system), do the same for any apps. that you have previously disabled and any other apps. that you don't want your device to monitor.
If you don't need vibration notifications, turn that off also. The same goes for lock screen notifications, especially weather widgets. If you need to know the weather, then activate it as you need it, having it constantly updated 24/7 is not necessary in my book.
The same obviously goes for data and WiFi. I only use about 1 G. of data a month but WiFi is on almost 24/7. so pick your poisons.

GRIM

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! It would help to see some battery stats, to see if anything specific is causing the drain. Charge up to 100%, then let it drain to 20-30% with normal usage, without charging in between. Then show us:

1. The main Settings>Battery screen.
2. The fullscreen battery graph screen (which shows Awake time and Cell Signal Strength).
3. The Screen category (to see total Screen On time).
4. The Cell Standby category, if present (to see Time Without Signal).


http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html


You might have to install a 3rd party battery monitor, like GSam Battery Monitor, to get the Cell Signal Strength graph.

I have also read that quick charging can theoretically reduce the battery's overall lifespan, but the effect should be generally modest, and shouldn't be noticeable after only a year. What might have more of an impact is if you habitually drain the battery to zero or near zero before recharging again--is that the case for you? The general rule of thumb is to start charging the device when it gets to 30-40%.

 

[Nottechsavvyatall]

@B. Diddy Thanx! Yep I am a habitual offender. I let the phone drain down to 15%-25% and charge at night while sleeping. I treated my Note 2 the same and did not notice a significant drop. I had that phone for abt 3 yrs. I miss that phone! I am also a heavy to moderate user so trying to use tablet more but the phone is just much more convenient. I am trying to correct my negligent ways now charging a few times a day letting it hit the 40s then charging.
I also have:
Stopped using fast charge.
Using greenify.
Turned on ultra power saving at night.
Switched to black theme.
Turned off gps, Samsung pay, some notifications, vibrations, most sound effects, smart stay,.
Ditched a couple of apps.
Screen timeout set to 1 min but read it should be at 30 sec.
If you are willing to check back I should be able to post shots later today or tomorrow. Thanx. @ Grimwald fast charging can cause wear and tear bc of the heat. I found that out w further reading on pc advisor site. Also the built in battery is supposed to be about slimmer/sleeker designs. Style over substance I guess. I am loyal to Note but I might have to go back to one w/ a removable battery. Thanx for the help!

 

[Nottechsavvyatall]

Here are the requested screenshots. Yhe battery life seems to have improve after making some changes. Yesterday was the first day I really saw improvement w battery life.

 

[Nottechsavvyatall]

This one

 

[Nottechsavvyatall]

This

 

[Nottechsavvyatall]

This. Thanx for the help!

 

[GRIMWALD]

There are a couple of other things you can do also, first, is to install the App. "Samsung +". It is mostly common sense fluff but there is some good tidbits and a scanning feature also.
Secondly, Samsung recommends to on occasion, enable location and switch from auto date and time to manual date and time. Change the time to an incorrect time and reboot the device. When reboot is complete turn auto date and time back on and again reboot the device.
I am not really sure if this accomplishes anything but Samsung Tech Supports seems to think by re-establishing a new server connection it helps. Apparently this does the trick for them and it doesn't seem to hurt anything.

GRIM

 

[B. Diddy]

Secondly, Samsung recommends to on occasion, enable location and switch from auto date and time to manual date and time. Change the time to an incorrect time and reboot the device. When reboot is complete turn auto date and time back on and again reboot the device.

That's very interesting--do you happen to have anything official-looking from Samsung that says that? It'd be a helpful link!

 

[Rukbat]

@B. Diddy Thanx! Yep I am a habitual offender. I let the phone drain down to 15%-25% and charge at night

From Battery University (Cadex probably knows more about Lithium batteries than Lithium does):


At 50% depth of discharge (IOW, dropping the battery to 50% every night), the battery should last between 1,200-1,500 charge cycles. At 100% DoD, the battery should last about 300-500 charge cycles. Extrapolating, 85% DoD (discharging down to 15%) may give you 700-800 cycles. That's about 2 years. Even 25% won't bring it up much. The ideal recharge point is 50%. 40% isn't TOO harmful. Anything less than that, regularly, is slow murder. (It has nothing to do with the manufacturer, the type of phone, anything like that. It's just the nature of Lithium batteries. VERY fast charging [3 AMPS in the case of the Note 5] won't change anything - that's only a 1C charge, which is considered a "normal charge" by the industry. MORE THAN 1C charging causes the heating. [That means 1.0001 Amps might cause a problem, so it's best to keep the Note 5 battery charging at no more than about 950mA.])

BTW, GPS uses almost no attery unless some app calls it to get your location - the receiver is almost "shelf-life-drain".

 

[GRIMWALD]

I will attempt to retrace my tracks and find the comments
I was following some information on Samsung +, about the "No recently used apps." bug and wandered around a little but I will attempt to find the comment.

GRIM


Link:https://us.community.samsung.com/t5...ast-after-Marshmallow-update/td-p/3768/page/3

"SamsungJuan
Moderator SamsungJuan MODERATOR
Options
‎07-15-2016 09:25 AM
Re: Note 4 battery running dead, fast after Marshmallow update
Hi, TC22. We would like to recommend that you take a few additional steps to ensure that your device is running optimally. You may go into your date and time settings. Once there would you please set your device clock to manual and then set it to the wrong time. After you have done this, please go to your home screen and close all the applications using the recent apps button to the left of the home button. After you have completed all this, please go back to the date and time settings and set it back to the correct time and set it back to automatic time. This will ensure that your device is synced with your network and that all applications are running optimally.
Second, we recommend closing other applications not in use with the recent applications button located to the left of the home button. You may also utilize specific application power saving options under settings, go to battery, and below apps power saving tap detail. Here you can select individual apps to optimize while allowing other applications access to background and sync data or select all. "

 

[B. Diddy]

Thanks GRIM! Although it's a little odd that they also suggested closing apps in the Recent Apps in order to save battery. That shouldn't really help, right?

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Thanks GRIM! Although it's a little odd that they also suggested closing apps in the Recent Apps in order to save battery. That shouldn't really help, right?

Normal misinformation from Samsung.

Yeah I was told my Note 5 shouldn't run more than 1 or 2 apps at a time to save RAM and battery by a Samsung rep.

I taught them about Android RAM and how it works and how I keep about 15 apps open all the time because Android isn't iOS.

 

[GRIMWALD]

I think that would be a gray area. Keeping the Apps. suspended in memory I can't imagine that would be a big battery drain but keeping them active in memory could very well be a drain on battery.
As a part of that discussion, apparently the "Nearby" feature of Google, was raising havoc with one members battery. If you don't need that particular service, I would suggest disabling it.


GRIM

 

[Kelly Kearns]

I have been running 15 to 20 apps rarely closing any down, for over a year and great battery life.

My phone runs better with a full RAM and everything open in the background.

Samsung has an aggressive memory management, too aggressive sometimes.

 

[GRIMWALD]

I can't say that I have that many Apps. running but with moderate usage, my battery expenditure is usually between 20% and 30% from 6 am. to 11.00 pm.
Their suggestion seem a little out there but it can't really hurt anything and only takes a few minuets to complete.
Turning off all of the miscellaneous notification, seemed to help me the most but I have very good battery management practices. Been an Android user for a long time (electronically speaking LOL).

GRIM